When long-time Ivanhoe locals Graeme and Catherine, decided it was time to downsize, they weren’t necessarily in a rush.&nbsp;

Like many in their stage of life, they had started thinking about apartment living, but anticipated making the shift in two to three years.

That timeline changed when they visited <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/new-apartments/candela-ivanhoe-40-upper-heidelberg-road-ivanhoe">Candela</a>, a new boutique development by <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/developers/salter-brothers">Salter Brothers</a>. The project ticked all the boxes they were looking for: location, quality design, and long-term lifestyle benefits, which prompted them to bring their decision forward.

“It was the right place at the right time,” they said. “We knew immediately it ticked all the boxes, and we didn’t want to wait.”

[smartcode_project:default project_id=342 project_image_fid=358855]

Their decision to downsize was driven by a combination of practical needs and lifestyle considerations. Their existing home, while much loved, had become increasingly difficult to maintain. It spanned multiple levels, included extensive front and back gardens, and was starting to show the wear that comes with age.&nbsp;

They were looking for a more manageable lifestyle, one with less upkeep and more freedom. A brand-new apartment with no maintenance requirements and the ability to simply “lock up and leave” gave them peace of mind and a greater sense of control over their future.

Financially, the purchase made sense as well. The available stamp duty savings, strong price-to-value offering, and timing of the settlement suited their plans, making the transition smoother and more cost-effective. The apartment's design and inclusions further supported their choice.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=342 project_image_fid=357493]

The layout was both functional and flexible: three bedrooms, a butler’s pantry, a separate laundry, and a large open-plan living area. It gave them the freedom to host a family, accommodate guests, or set up a home office. The expansive balcony and elevated views added to the appeal, providing a sense of openness and connection to the outdoors.

“It just had a really good flow,” Catherine noted, something they found lacking in many other apartments they’d considered, particularly in the established market.

Candela’s boutique scale was another deciding factor. With a smaller number of residences and a top-floor penthouse position, the couple felt the development offered the privacy and space they were looking for, without feeling isolated.

“We liked that it wasn’t a huge development. It felt well-balanced, modern but still with a sense of community, not overwhelming,” they said.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=342 project_image_fid=357508]

Equally important was the ability to remain in Ivanhoe, a suburb they know well and have deep roots in. After 46 years in the area, proximity to local parks, shops, and familiar faces mattered just as much as the apartment itself.

“We didn’t want to give up the community we’ve known for decades. Candela allowed us to upgrade our lifestyle while staying in the place we call home.”

With a Walk Score of 90, the village location supports a convenient, connected lifestyle. <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/ivanhoe-vic-3079">Ivanhoe</a> Station is just a eight-minute walk away, and the neighbourhood offers access to parks, cafes, restaurants, and schools along Upper Heidelberg Road, all within easy reach.

Beyond the apartment, the couple also saw value in the broader vision for Candela, one that integrates residential living with public spaces and local amenities.&nbsp;

The development introduces 58 new apartments as well as a mix of commercial and social spaces that integrate contemporary architecture with the suburb’s existing character.&nbsp;

At ground level, residents will find a charming café and a lifestyle wellness centre, perfect for unwinding and rejuvenating. Meanwhile, the rooftop garden offers a stunning vantage point for residents to enjoy breathtaking sunsets, host gatherings, or enjoy barbecues with family and friends. It's not just a place to live; it's a vibrant community where every moment is an opportunity to connect and create lasting memories.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=342]

Staff Writer

Why Ivanhoe locals are choosing to downsize to Candela

Mark and Roy Makari are expanding their presence in Sydney’s South West with a second major proposal for Leppington, this time envisioning a 900-dwelling mixed-use development just 850 metres from their previously lodged tower trio on Fifth Avenue.

Project management and construction management firm Creative Vision filed the plans for the&nbsp;multi-building project at <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/230-rickard-road-leppington-nsw-2179">230 Rickard Road, Leppington</a>. The proposal seeks to establish a new focal point for the precinct through a high-density, transit-oriented development supported by diverse land uses.

According to the Scoping Report prepared for the Department of Planning, the scheme includes around 900 apartments across multiple towers, including 135 dwellings designated for affordable housing. A mix of market and subsidised apartments will be supported by ground-level activation through retail and office space, a childcare centre, and a hotel, forming a comprehensive urban precinct.

<img alt="Mixed Use Development 230 Rickard Rd Leppington" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="34797362-f3dc-4d84-8235-2657fc5f3bde" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Plan.png?VersionId=Uzckrz9tUpDQl5lX1_WMhjnv16bsr8wG" />

The Design Report by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/studiosc-0">Studio SC</a> notes that the project “intends to deliver a high-quality, high-density built form that supports the vision for the Leppington Town Centre, integrating mixed-use outcomes and public domain upgrades.” The development is expected to be delivered in stages, although a precise timeline is yet to be confirmed.

The project will be assessed through a future State Significant Development Application, with the Scoping Report indicating the team will seek design excellence via a competitive process or through an expert design review panel. Early massing diagrams suggest a series of mid- to high-rise buildings framing a central landscaped spine, with emphasis on pedestrian permeability and public space.

The planning documentation flags a strong sustainability agenda, stating that the development will “respond to the urban heat island effect, incorporate water sensitive urban design, and prioritise active transport”.

<img alt="Mixed Use Development 230 Rickard Rd Leppington" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="369d7b54-1279-4cde-88ec-dcb215594414" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Podium_1.png?VersionId=QArL7B2kkLt63vl5xvL0FNV_ardAlez4" />

The proposal follows in the footsteps of the Makaris’ nearby Fifth Avenue site, where they’ve submitted plans for three towers comprising nearly 500 apartments, with 10 per cent dedicated to affordable housing. That project features commercial podiums, a childcare centre, and a new public park that would occupy more than a third of the site.

Both developments are situated within walking distance of Leppington Train Station and fall under strategic precinct plans promoting higher density housing. The town centre is undergoing substantial transformation, driven by state government planning reforms aimed at fast-tracking housing delivery.

Together, the two projects represent a combined ambition of nearly 1,400 new homes across just under two kilometres of central Leppington.

First look: 900-home mixed-use precinct planned for Leppington

Leading Australian integrated property development group, <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/aqualand-australia">Aqualand</a>, has released the signature penthouses crowning its landmark AURA by Aqualand precinct at 168 Walker Street in North Sydney, unveiling Il Magnate and La Divina as the largest and most luxurious penthouses in the suburb.

With prices anticipated to commence from $15 million, and each accompanied by a new Porsche Carrera 911 valued at over $500K, the residences mark the culmination of <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/buildings/aura-by-aqualand-north-sydney-168-walker-street-north-sydney-nsw-2060">AURA by Aqualand</a>’s decade-long journey and the beginning of its final sales chapter. 
&nbsp; 
Their release follows more than $850 million in record-breaking residential sales and the building’s completion and occupation.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=30959 project_image_fid=358868]

The Richards Stanisich-designed 284 sqm Il Magnate and 224 sqm La Divina penthouses, collectively known as The Icons of AURA, are conceived as grand luxury homes rather than apartments, with expansive proportions, elevated materiality and curated identities that reflect their status as one-off residences.&nbsp;

Il Magnate features a grande master suite, complete with substantial walk-in dressing area and ensuite, three other bedrooms, second ensuite and another bathroom, powder room, open plan kitchen, scullery, substantial dining area and generous living room divided by a feature fireplace, and a multifunction wintergarden, which is ideal for a study and adjoining office breakout space. &nbsp;

Meanwhile, the La Divina residence offers the same amenities, sans the powder room, on a slightly smaller alternate floor plan configuration.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=30959 project_image_fid=358863]

Each occupies half of AURA by Aqualand’s topmost 28th level, comes with four secure car spaces and pairs sweeping Sydney Harbour panoramas with large-scale living spaces, refined detailing and a level of craftsmanship and amenity rarely offered in the North Shore market.&nbsp;

Penthouse residents will also receive Etymon’s ‘Black Key’ private concierge and lifestyle management service, an invitation only offering providing the ultimate in bespoke personalisation, including a range of everyday discrete services, from dinner party management, grocery deliveries, pet feeding or plants watered, dinners, snacks and coffee deliveries, event ticket sourcing, right up to organising travel visas and international airfares. Rarely seen in Australian properties, the service provides residents the benefits of living in a world-class luxury hotel-style home, akin to The Ritz, or the Waldorf Astoria.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=30959 project_image_fid=358862]

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/interior-designers/richards-stanisich">Richards Stanisich</a>’s Director, Kirsten Stanisich, said the studio set out to craft residences that feel profoundly considered, contemporary and deeply connected to their setting.

“From the outset, we approached these penthouses with the sensibility of a grand Parisian residence - generous in scale, elegant in proportion and designed to feel more like a handcrafted home than an apartment," Stanisich said.

“Their elevated position and sweeping harbour outlook informed every decision, creating a rare connection between urban sophistication and natural calm. We shaped each space with expressive materiality, sculptural forms and bespoke detailing that invite touch and interaction.&nbsp;

“The result is a pair of residences defined by volume, light and an inherent softness - refined, flexible and deeply personal. These penthouses are unlike anything else in North Sydney, offering a sanctuary of true luxury framed by some of the city’s most remarkable views.”

For Aqualand’s Head of Sales &amp; Marketing, Alex Adams, the collaboration with Porsche underscores the shared ethos behind the residences.

“Aqualand’s collaboration with Porsche underpins both brand’s sharing an obsession with craftsmanship, design excellence, and enduring value," Adams said.

“Our penthouses are created for those who appreciate the finer details and expect the extraordinary at every touchpoint. Including a Porsche simply extends that experience beyond the residence - it’s a continuation of the lifestyle our buyers already live.”&nbsp;

[smartcode_project:default project_id=30959 project_image_fid=292862]

Aqualand’s Managing Director, Jin Lin, said the penthouses represent both the pinnacle of AURA by Aqualand and an important design benchmark for the company’s future pipeline.&nbsp;

“These stunning penthouses reflect the purest expression of Aqualand’s design ambition," Lin said.

“The unparalleled design intent makes them not only the glistening crown of AURA by Aqualand, but the crown of North Sydney itself. They’re essentially a thank you gift to a burgeoning community that deserves this level of quality and architectural consideration.&nbsp;

“We’re leveraging the unrivalled standard set here as the foundation for what comes next, including our upcoming Anderson Street, Chatswood; 15 Blue Street, North Sydney and Central Barangaroo projects. Purchasers of these penthouses will essentially be living inside the blueprint of Aqualand’s future.

“These landmark residences demonstrate how far North Sydney has evolved and the strength of demand for highly curated, bespoke luxury homes. They’re more than penthouses, they’re legacy residences.&nbsp;

“With AURA by Aqualand now a thriving new precinct with residents well and truly settled, and our in-house world-class lifestyle amenity activated, Il Magnate and La Divina represent a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to secure an extraordinary piece of North Sydney’s future.”

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=30959]

Joel Robinson

Aqualand launches North Sydney penthouses with free Porsche Carrera 911

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/bokarina-qld-4575">Bokarina</a> Beach has quietly evolved into one of the Sunshine Coast’s most complete coastal lifestyle precincts, defined not just by proximity to the ocean, but by how residential living, local retail and everyday amenity are stitched together.&nbsp;

Gardner Vaughan Group’s <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/bask-bokarina-38-bokarina-boulevard-bokarina-qld-4575">Bask Bokarina</a> now represents the final residential chapter in that transformation.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=141609 project_image_fid=333360]

Over recent years, the Bokarina Beach precinct has taken shape as a walkable, community-oriented neighbourhood, anchored by beachfront access, Lake Kawana to the west, and a growing mix of cafés, specialty retail and public open space.&nbsp;

With Zinc Bokarina already delivered next door by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/gardner-vaughan-group">Gardner Vaughan Group</a> (GVG), Bask is the last opportunity to buy a brand new apartment within the precinct, effectively rounding out a fully formed coastal village.

GVG has positioned Bask to strengthen that lifestyle framework. Ten ground-floor retail spaces are planned beneath the residences, extending Bokarina Boulevard’s existing activity and reinforcing the area’s everyday convenience, from casual dining and coffee to local services, within a short walk of the beach.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=141609 project_image_fid=333359]

The residential component comprises 135 apartments across two buildings, Mydas and Caretta, with a clear shift toward larger three- and four-bedroom layouts and penthouses. That mix reflects a maturing buyer profile in Bokarina, where demand is increasingly led by owner-occupiers and active downsizers seeking space, permanence, and connection to place rather than short-term coastal accommodation.

Design and amenity have followed the same logic. Residents will have access to a heated plunge pool, gym, private dining room with a full kitchen, landscaped communal gardens with barbecues and a firepit, and a shared herb and vegetable garden, facilities intended to support daily use rather than resort-style turnover. Pet-friendly features, including a dog wash bay, acknowledge both buyer expectations and the area’s dog-friendly beach, located around 250 metres from the site.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=141609 project_image_fid=333366]

“Bokarina has become one of the Sunshine Coast’s most desirable beachside communities, and Bask represents the very last chance to buy new in this location,” GVG Director Sam Gardner said.&nbsp;

“Our focus has been to create spacious, functional apartments that meet the needs of locals who want to downsize without compromise, as well as those seeking a full-time coastal retreat.”

Positioned between the Pacific Ocean and Lake Kawana, Bask apartments have been oriented to capture outlooks toward the water or the Glass House Mountains, reinforcing the project’s connection to its natural surroundings. With parks, beachfront paths, hospitals, retail and public transport already in place, Bask arrives at a point where the broader precinct is no longer emerging, but established.

Construction is expected to complete in Q3 this year, with apartments ready to move into this Spring.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=141609]

Bask to complete Bokarina’s Sunshine Coast lifestyle precinct as final apartments are released

Property development giant <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/avid-property-group">AVID Property Group</a> is approaching completion, and sell-out, of its Surry Hills apartment development, <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/the-rathbone-23-47-flinders-street-surry-hills-nsw-2010">The Rathbone</a>.

The Flinders St project has sold well over half of its 32 apartments, which will sit above two retail spaces.

Now hitting the market are the final 14 one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments, which start from $1.15 million. AVID is targeting a mid-2026 completion.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=5947 project_image_fid=51208]

AVID General Manager New South Wales Danny Boubli said as more apartments are introduced to increase housing options in inner-city areas, homebuyers are searching for a &nbsp;sense of belonging in addition to location, convenience and value.&nbsp;

“There are very few opportunities for new developments in Surry Hills, and since acquiring the site, we’ve even seen one early purchaser merge two apartments plans together, reflecting the demand for a spacious, premium offering in a prime location,” Boubli said.&nbsp;

“Demand has been strong since we launched to market – we don’t see these final apartments staying on the market for long.”&nbsp;

Architectural firm Studio SC has designed the building which pays homage to the former 1900s Rathbone Terraces that once sat on the 990 sqm island site.

Boubil said the team has made every effort to create "truly liveable apartments", through&nbsp;functional floor plans, security, storage, and the inclusion of quality fittings.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=5947 project_image_fid=51207]

&nbsp;

Sustainable design has also been implemented throughout the development, with natural light flooding each apartment, ventilation throughout, extensive landscaping and where possible, materials with a high level of recycled content and low volatile organic compound paints have been used. &nbsp;

Apartments range in size from 57 sqm for the one-bedrooms to the large-scale 165 sqm three-beds which are priced at $2,575,000.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=5947]

AVID launches final apartments at The Rathbone, Surry Hills

Internet

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With #StayAtHome and social distancing now becoming a way of life, an increasing number of people are relying on the internet for work, education and entertainment.
This has placed greater demand on our network infrastructure, reducing the <a href="https://www.nbnco.com.au/utility/glossary-of-terms" target="_blank">bandwidth</a> available for each user, and is leaving people frustrated at seemingly slow internet speeds.
While internet service providers such as TPG or Telstra may not be able to instantly respond to these changes, there are a few tricks you can use to boost your home internet’s speed.
<h2>Why is your internet slow?</h2>
There may be many reasons why your internet speed is slow. Internet use requires a reliable connection between your device and the destination, which may be a server that is physically located on the other side of the world.
Your connection to that server could pass through <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_to_live" target="_blank">hundreds</a> of devices on its journey. Each one of these is a potential failure, or weak point. If one point along this path isn’t functioning optimally, this can significantly affect your internet experience.
Web servers in particular are often affected by external factors, including <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-botnet-to-malware-a-guide-to-decoding-cybersecurity-buzzwords-77958" target="_blank">Denial of Service (DOS)</a> attacks, wherein an overload of traffic causes congestion in the server, and impedes proper functioning.
While you may not have control over these things from your home network, that doesn’t mean you don’t have options to improve your internet speed.
<h2>Wifi signal boost</h2>
The <a href="https://kb.netgear.com/235/What-is-a-wireless-access-point" target="_blank">access point</a> (wireless router) in your home network is used to connect your devices to your internet service provider. Most access points provide a wireless signal with limited channels, which can suffer interference from nearby signals, like your neighbour’s. A “channel” is a kind of virtual “pipe” through which data is transferred.
Although your devices are designed to avoid interference by switching channels automatically (there are usually 14 available), it may help to check your router settings, as some are set to a single channel by default. When trying different options to reduce interference, it’s advisable to select <a href="https://www.metageek.com/training/resources/why-channels-1-6-11" target="_blank">channels 1, 6 or 11</a> as they can help to minimise problems (for 2.4GHz wireless).
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/324761/original/file-20200401-23130-molfs4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/324761/original/file-20200401-23130-molfs4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt=""></a>
This diagram shows the frequency and channel distribution for 2.4GHz. <a class="source" href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/344491/an-update-on-creative-commons-licensing?cb=1" target="_blank">Rob/Stack Exchange</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" target="_blank">CC BY-SA</a>
<h2>What else can you do?</h2>
There are further things you can try to improve your wifi signal. If your router supports 5GHz wifi signals, <a href="https://www.techadvisor.co.uk/how-to/network-wifi/how-change-wi-fi-channel-3325316/" target="_blank">switching to this</a> can provide a faster data rate, but over shorter distances. Reposition your router for best coverage (usually a central position).
The difference between 2.4GHz and 5GHz wifi signals is they have different data transmission speeds. While 5GHz can transfer data faster (with 23 available channels), 2.4GHz provides a wider range. If you want speed, go for 5GHz. For better coverage, choose 2.4GHz.
Some domestic appliances can cause interference with your router. It’s worth checking if using your microwave oven, cordless phone or baby monitor affects your connection, as they may be using the same frequency as your router.
Using a <a href="https://www.pcmag.com/news/wireless-witch-how-to-place-a-wireless-extender" target="_blank">wifi extender</a> can help with coverage by boosting or extending the signal.
<h2>Viruses and malware</h2>
To avoid computer viruses, make sure you regularly check for updates on your devices and use antivirus software. It’s also worth rebooting your router to clear specific malware (malicious software designed to damage your device or server), such as <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-actions-disrupt-advanced-persistent-threat-28-botnet-infected" target="_blank">VPNFilter</a> – a malware that <a href="https://blog.malwarebytes.com/cybercrime/2018/06/vpnfilter-malware-still-making-waves/" target="_blank">infects more than half a million routers</a> in more than 50 countries.
You should also check the following:
<ul>
<li>
does your router need to be replaced with a newer model? This may be the case if it has been used for many years. Newer models support enhanced functions and faster internet speeds
</li>
<li>
is the <a href="https://techterms.com/definition/firmware" target="_blank">firmware</a> of your wireless router <a href="https://windowsreport.com/update-router-firmware/" target="_blank">updated</a>? You can do this by visiting the device manufacturer’s website. This will help fix problems and allow additional functionality. It’s unlikely this update is done automatically.
</li>
</ul>
<h2>Planning your internet usage</h2>
If multiple people are streaming video at your home, which often requires <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/mar/13/covid-19-could-cause-permanent-shift-towards-home-working" target="_blank">ten times the daytime demand</a>, a limited internet connection will soon be fully used.
Try to plan your and family members’ online activities around peak times. Before the pandemic hit, most internet usage was likely oriented around the early evenings, after close of business. With the shift to remote working and schooling, more internet access is likely during the day, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/mar/13/covid-19-could-cause-permanent-shift-towards-home-working" target="_blank">with a 10% usage increase overall, and a 30% increase at peak times</a>.
Outside your home, connectivity is likely to be on a “best effort” plan, which shares a fixed bandwidth with other users. In other words, your mobile internet bandwidth is shared with others in your area when they access the internet at the same time. A shared bandwidth results in slower individual speeds.
You can’t control how many people access the internet, but you can manage your own internet activity by downloading large files or content overnight, or outside of peak hours (when there is less traffic).
<h2>How to improve your ISP’s network issues</h2>
While you can try to fix issues and optimise the setup inside your home, unfortunately you can’t really influence network performance outside of it. Thus, contacting your internet service provider’s call centre and seeking support is your best option.
All of the above considered, it’s important to remember that when using the internet, we’re sharing a limited resource. Just like buying pasta or toilet paper, there are many who need it just as much as you, so use it wisely.
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/james-jin-kang-903030" target="_blank">James Jin Kang</a>, Lecturer, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/edith-cowan-university-720" target="_blank">Edith Cowan University</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/paul-haskell-dowland-382903" target="_blank">Paul Haskell-Dowland</a>, Associate Dean (Computing and Security), <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/edith-cowan-university-720" target="_blank">Edith Cowan University</a>
This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-boost-your-internet-speed-when-everyone-is-working-from-home-135313" target="_blank">original article</a>.
</body></html>

j.ballantyne1990-6AQqhLzZaK

How to boost your internet speed when everyone is working from home 

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EXPERT OBSERVATION
Lack of speed kills: finally NBN Co is thinking about a genuinely 21st century offering for customers. 
Last week NBN Co <a href="https://www2.nbnco.com.au/corporate-information/media-centre/media-statements/nbn-co-proposes-big-discounts-to-wholesale-prices" target="_blank">announced pricing changes</a> for the National Broadband Network.
It includes a new plan boasting a download speed of 1 gigabit per second and an upload speed of 50 megabits per second for $80 a month.
These are 20-fold improvements on the maximum NBN speeds now. Almost a decade since the first customers were connected, NBN Co is thinking about a genuinely 21st century offering in terms of speed and price.
The NBN is late, over budget and slow. <a href="https://www.speedtest.net/global-index" target="_blank">Australia places 58th globally</a> for fixed-line broadband speed. Not only do the NBN’s advertised speeds lag international standards but the actual speeds often don’t come close to what is promised.
Customer interest as a result has been unenthusiastic. NBN Co may well need to take a massive write-down on its assets because they don’t look like they’re worth <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/nbn-write-down-inevitable-after-disastrous-rollout-says-ex-boss-20190204-p50vl7" target="_blank">A$50 billion</a>.
All of this was entirely predictable, based on politicians failing to remember three basic lessons from Economics 101.
1: Technology often outstrips imagination
The history of innovation is littered with examples of remarkably important things being invented with no clear purpose in mind, or by accident, and then exceeding our wildest expectations.
<a href="https://www.healio.com/endocrinology/news/print/endocrine-today/%7B15afd2a1-2084-4ca6-a4e6-7185f5c4cfb0%7D/penicillin-an-accidental-discovery-changed-the-course-of-medicine" target="_blank">Penicillin</a> and <a href="https://charlesgoodyear101.weebly.com/vulcanized-rubber" target="_blank">vulcanised rubber</a> (which led to the tyre for automobiles) were both invented by accident. The <a href="https://home.cern/science/computing/birth-web" target="_blank">world wide web</a> was developed as a means of communication among particle physicists. Most of us carry around in our pocket a computer (mobile phone) <a href="https://medium.com/@diego./cray-2-v-iphone-xs-fight-6f05b494efe1" target="_blank">roughly as powerful than the world’s faster supercomputer circa 1985</a>. Those have turned out to be pretty useful.
When the Coalition decided to scuttle Labor’s NBN plan for fibre-optic cable to every premises, on the basis that “fibre-to-the-node” and using existing copper telephone wires to the premises would be much cheaper, this is what the chief spruiker of the Coalition’s NBN plan, Malcolm Turnbull, <a href="https://www.arnnet.com.au/article/366036/turnbull_why_should_taxpayers_fund_43b_nbn_better_hd_video_streaming_/" target="_blank">said about broadband needs</a> in 2010:
"There isn’t much or anything you can do with 100 Mbps that you can’t do with 12 Mbps for residential customers."
The breathtaking lack of insight and imagination in this comment is responsible in no small part for the Flintstonian broadband infrastructure Australia now has.
Prioritising speed of roll-out (which hasn’t even happened) over speed of internet (which sure has happened) was a massive mistake.
2: Positives justify subsidies
You having fast internet is good for me when we connect. When consumers can connect quickly to a business’s website that’s good for the business. It makes it more profitable for businesses to invest in their internet operations. This has benefits for other consumers and even other businesses.
A great illustration of this is in Dunedin, New Zealand, where there have been all sorts of business-to-business spillovers from the city having the <a href="https://www.glimp.co.nz/blog/broadband/where-is-the-fastest-internet-in-nz" target="_blank">fastest internet speeds</a> in Australasia. The ABC’s <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://www.abc.net.au/4corners/whats-wrong-with-the-nbn/9077900" target="_blank">Four Corners program</a> has highlighted how this has revolutionised New Zealand’s video-game development industry, among other things.
Economists call spillover effects to third parties externalities. Pollution is a negative externality, while the benefit of fast internet is a positive externality.
A sound business model for the NBN ought to recognise the positive externalities and ensure they are incorporated into the price mechanism, by offering a partial subsidy to encourage people to sign up. Like the reverse of a carbon price.
One of the NBN’s key problems is the way successive governments structured national investment in it. Setting up NBN Co as a quasi-corporate entity needing to make a commercial rate of return on the roughly A$50 billion investment in the network was a huge mistake. It was the opposite of providing a subsidy.
The telecommunications companies who retail the NBN have complained that NBN Co’s wholesale price points mean it is hard for resellers to make a profit. It’s a kind of quality death spiral: an unattractive product means fewer people buy it, leading to the product getting worse, leading to even fewer people buying it.
3: Uniform pricing doesn’t work
Finally, it’s never a good idea to charge everyone the same price when there are different costs to serve different people.
The idea was that higher returns from easy-to-service city homes would subsidise the higher costs of service homes in regional and remote areas. But city homes, precisely because they are cheaper to service, have other options. If not enough city customers signed up to the NBN, prices would be driven up, making the network even less attractive to city customers. It’s textbook <a href="https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/glossary/adverse-selection/" target="_blank">adverse selection</a>, just like in health-insurance markets.
The government tried to get around this by banning competition. But that’s never really possible, especially from technologies not yet invented. Like 5G. The 2010 business case assumed no more than 16% of households would go wireless. Oops.
As economic journalist <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/nbns-assumptions-just-dont-stack-up-20110628-1gp48" target="_blank">Peter Martin wrote</a> in 2011:
"NBN will never make a return on the cost of its capital or meet its customer targets if it faces competition. Its corporate plan says so, at point 1: 'The plan assumes effective regulatory protection to prevent opportunistic cherry picking […] the viability of the project is dependent upon this protection.'"
What to do from here
Multiple governments have bungled the NBN. But there is a way to salvage things – a bit.
Holding constant the technology (fibre-to-the-node), the best thing the government could do is write down its investment massively – ideally so low that it can flog NBN Co off to someone who can be subject to access regulation – ensuring, like other utilities, ownership of infrastructure doesn’t stymie competition – and make a modest rate of return.
Our super funds are always sticking up their hands for infrastructure investment. This would be a good one.
Ideally, though, the technology should be fixed. Fibre-to-the-premises was always going to be expensive, but it was also going to be fast, and as future-proof as we could get.
Lack of imagination and inability to think past 12 Mbps less than 10 years ago should not hold the nation back now.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123750/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;">
Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW.
This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/vital-signs-nbns-new-price-plans-are-too-little-too-late-123750" target="_blank">original article</a>.
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rh-YsoTT2xMuQ

NBN’s new price plans are too little, too late: Richard Holden

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The announcement of the name of Japan’s new Imperial era has resulted in a boom in traffic for an Australian property group.
On Monday, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga announced that the country’s new Imperial era will be named Reiwa.
The announcement led to a surge in traffic to <a href="http://reiwa.com/" target="_blank">reiwa.com</a>, which is the website for The Real Estate Institute of Western Australia, also known as REIWA.
The Reiwa era will begin on 1 May 2019 with the term coming from an existing compilation of Japanese poetry and also represents fortune, peace and harmony.
REIWA CEO Neville Pozzi said 70% of traffic to reiwa.com today were Japanese people, mistaking the real estate portal for their country’s new imperial era.
Pozzi said the spike in attention from Japan could be an opportunity to lure foreign investment back into the state.
“REIWA is the number one trending hashtag on Twitter, and we even had comments on social media from Japanese people asking the bidding price of REIWA’s domain name,” he said.
“As an Institute, we want to embrace all of this traction and use it as an opportunity to entice migration and foreign investment back into our state in a fun and light-hearted way.”
“The Institute is making the most of its time in the social media spotlight, with hopes that this draws some much needed attention to the WA property market.”
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jonathanchancellor-7SQnKwU6yx

Announcement of Reiwa era sparks surge in internet traffic for WA property group 

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GUEST OBSERVATION
There’s little doubt the information technology revolution has improved our lives. But unless we find a new form of electronic technology that uses less energy, computing will become limited by an “energy crunch” within decades.
Even the most common events in our daily life – making a phone call, sending a text message or checking an email – use computing power. Some tasks, such as watching videos, require a lot of processing, and so consume a lot of energy.
Because of the energy required to power the massive, factory-sized data centres and networks that connect the internet, computing already <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629618301051" target="_blank">consumes 5% of global electricity</a>. And that electricity load is doubling every decade.
Fortunately, there are new areas of physics that offer promise for massively reduced energy use.
The end of Moore’s Law
Humans have an insatiable demand for computing power.
Smartphones, for example, have become one of the most important devices of our lives. We use them to access weather forecasts, plot the best route through traffic, and watch the latest season of our favourite series.
And we expect our smartphones to become even more powerful in the future. We want them to translate language in real time, transport us to new locations via virtual reality, and connect us to the “Internet of Things”.
The computing required to make these features a reality doesn’t actually happen in our phones. Rather it’s enabled by a huge network of mobile phone towers, Wi-Fi networks and massive, factory-sized data centres known as “server farms”.
For the past five decades, our increasing need for computing was largely satisfied by incremental improvements in conventional, silicon-based computing technology: ever-smaller, ever-faster, ever-more efficient chips. We refer to this constant shrinking of silicon components as “Moore’s Law”.
Moore’s law is named after Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, who observed <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/mooreslaw.asp" target="_blank">that</a> "the number of transistors on a chip doubles every year while the costs are halved".
But as we hit limits of basic physics and economy, Moore’s law is winding down. We could see the end of efficiency gains using current, silicon-based technology as soon as 2020.
Our growing demand for computing capacity must be met with gains in computing efficiency, otherwise the information revolution will slow down from power hunger.
Achieving this sustainably means finding a new technology that uses less energy in computation. This is referred to as a “beyond CMOS” solution, in that it requires a radical shift from the silicon-based CMOS (complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor) technology that has been the backbone of computing for the last five decades.
Why does computing consume energy at all?
Processing of information takes energy. When using an electronic device to watch TV, listen to music, model the weather or any other task that requires information to be processed, there are millions and millions of binary calculations going on in the background. There are zeros and ones being flipped, added, multiplied and divided at incredible speeds.
The fact that a microprocessor can perform these calculations billions of times a second is exactly why computers have revolutionised our lives.
But information processing doesn’t come for free. Physics tells us that every time we perform an operation – for example, adding two numbers together – we must pay an energy cost.
And the cost of doing calculations isn’t the only energy cost of running a computer. In fact, anyone who has ever used a laptop balanced on their legs will attest that most of the energy gets converted to heat. This heat comes from the resistance that electricity meets when it flows through a material.
It is this wasted energy due to electrical resistance that researchers are hoping to minimise.
Recent advances point to solutions
Running a computer will always consume some energy, but we are a long way (several orders of magnitude) away from computers that are as efficient as the laws of physics allow. Several recent advances give us hope for entirely new solutions to this problem via new materials and new concepts.
Very thin materials
One recent step forward in physics and materials science is being able to build and control materials that are only one or a few atoms thick. When a material forms such a thin layer, and the movement of electrons is confined to this sheet, it is possible for electricity to flow without resistance.
There are a range of different materials that show this property (or might show it). Our research at the ARC Centre for Future Low-Energy Electronics Technologies (<a href="http://www.fleet.org.au/" target="_blank">FLEET</a>) is focused on studying these materials.
The study of shapes
There is also an exciting conceptual leap that helps us understand this property of electricity flow without resistance.
This idea comes from a branch of mathematics called “topology”. Topology tells us how to compare shapes: what makes them the same and what makes them different.
Image a coffee cup made from soft clay. You could slowly squish and squeeze this shape until it looks like a donut. The hole in the handle of the cup becomes the hole in the donut, and the rest of the cup gets squished to form part of the donut.
Topology tells us that donuts and coffee cups are equivalent because we can deform one into the other without cutting it, poking holes in it, or joining pieces together.
It turns out that the strange rules that govern how electricity flows in thin layers can be understood in terms of topology. This insight was the focus of the <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2016/press-release/" target="_blank">2016 Nobel Prize</a>, and it’s driving an enormous amount of current research in physics and engineering.
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LV4uFHqdio4?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" frameborder="0" width="440" height="260"></iframe>
We want to take advantage of these new materials and insights to develop the next generation of low-energy electronics devices, which will be based on topological science to allow electricity to flow with minimal resistance.
This work creates the possibility of a sustainable continuation of the IT revolution – without the huge energy cost.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106060/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;">
Daisy Wang, Postdoctoral Fellow, UNSW School of Physics, UNSW
Jared Cole, Professor of Physics, RMIT University
This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/computing-faces-an-energy-crunch-unless-new-technologies-are-found-106060" target="_blank">original article</a>.
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Computing faces an energy crunch unless new technologies are found

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GUEST OBSERVATION
The internet is transforming every aspect of our lives. It has become indispensable. But, so far, according to <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/joes.12211" target="_blank">a new meta-analysis we have published in the Journal of Economic Surveys</a>, the internet has done next to nothing for economic growth.
Vast resources have been thrown at information and communication technologies. Yet despite exponential growth in ICT and its integration into almost all aspects of our lives, economic growth is not demonstrably faster (and at the moment is demonstrably slower) than it was beforehand.
As Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert Solow famously put it, “you can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics.”
This productivity paradox has caused angst and raised questions about whether the trillions invested in ICT could have been better invested elsewhere.
Our study of studies
We reassessed ICT through a meta-analysis of 59 econometric studies incorporating 466 different observations in both developed and developing countries. We divided ICT into three categories: computing, mobile and landline telephone connections, and the internet. For developed countries, we found that computing had had a moderate impact on growth. Mobile and landline telephone technologies also had a small effect.
But the internet has had no effect, at least not as far as can be ascertained from the research to date.
The promise not yet delivered
Ever since the Industrial Revolution, innovation and technological change have driven rising productivity and economic growth.
Information and communications technologies ought to follow in those footsteps.
Instead, productivity growth in US manufacturing has <a href="https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2018/article/multifactor-productivity-slowdown-in-us-manufacturing.htm" target="_blank">slid</a> from 2% per year between 1992 to 2004 to minus 0.3% per year between 2005 and 2016.
Where ICT innovations <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://www.jstor.org/stable/20777587?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents" target="_blank">do lead to an increase in productivity</a>, it’s often a one-off boost rather than an <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://press.princeton.edu/titles/10544" target="_blank">ongoing increase year after year</a>.
Where the internet sends us backwards
More disquieting, there is some evidence suggesting that rather than contributing to economic performance, some parts of ICT can harm it.
The internet can be an enabler of <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/202162/the-procrastination-equation-by-piers-steel/9780307357175" target="_blank">procrastination</a>. Cyberslacking can take up to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563211000604" target="_blank">three hours of work a day</a>.
It isn’t all bad. Many of us get a lot of joy from catching up on social media and watching dog and cat videos. But if everyone is distracted by it, little gets done.
The internet has also enabled greater flexibility in work, another plus. But if it contributes little to economic growth, it is worth asking whether our economic managers should continue to fund its expansion.
No saviour for developing nations
For developing countries, generating economic growth is pressing because resources are scarce. ICT has been <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/2422" target="_blank">held out as a saviour</a>.
Yet, it has almost always been found that more obvious innovations, such as running water, <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://press.princeton.edu/titles/10544" target="_blank">electricity</a>, and primary education for girls, have bigger payoffs.
Our own findings show that developing countries benefit from landline and mobile phone technologies but not at all from computing, at least not yet. ICT might need to reach a <a href="http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199548798.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199548798-e-005" target="_blank">critical size</a> before its effects matter.
But maybe later, down the track
The time it takes for ICT investment to generate economic growth might be longer than expected, and it might need to reach an even bigger critical mass before that happens.
But it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that, for the immediate future, growth will continue to depend upon more traditional sources: trade between nations, education, new ideas, the rule of law, sound political institutions, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-listen-to-the-rich-inequality-is-bad-for-everyone-81952" target="_blank">curtailing inequality</a>.
Unfortunately, these are under threat from growing nationalism and protectionism in the United States and elsewhere. The evidence to date suggests that we would be better off fighting those threats than investing still more in an information technology revolution that has yet to deliver.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/105294/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;">
Chris Doucouliagos, Professor of Economics, Department of Economics, Deakin Business School, Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University
Tom Stanley, Professor of Meta-Analysis, Deakin University
This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-internet-has-done-a-lot-but-so-far-little-for-economic-growth-105294" target="_blank">original article</a>.
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The internet has done a lot, but so far little for economic growth

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Will Australia’s National Broadband Network (NBN) face damaging competition from the upcoming 5G network? NBN Co CEO Bill Morrow <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/slug-mobile-internet-connections-or-pay-us-more-nbn-chief-bill-morrow-warns-20171022-gz5p87" target="_blank">thinks so</a>.
This week, he even floated the idea of a levy on mobile broadband services, although Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/malcolm-turnbull-says-the-nbn-was-a-mistake-and-may-never-make-money-20171022-gz63yo" target="_blank">quickly rejected</a> the idea.
NBN Co is clearly going to have to compete with mobile broadband on an equal footing.
This latest episode in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/nbn-127" target="_blank">NBN saga</a> raises the question of exactly what 5G will offer broadband customers, and how it will sit alongside the fixed NBN network.
To understand how 5G could compare with the NBN, let’s examine the key differences and similarities between mobile networks and fixed-line broadband.
<h2>What is 5G?</h2>
5G stands for “<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-5g-38489" target="_blank">5th generation mobile</a>”. It builds upon today’s 4G mobile network technology, but promises to offer higher peak connection speeds and lower latency, or time delays.
5G’s higher connection speeds will be possible thanks to improved radio technologies, increased allocations of radio spectrum, and by using many more antenna sites or base stations than today’s networks. Each antenna will serve a smaller area, or cell.
The technical details of 5G are currently under negotiation in international standards bodies. 5G networks should be available in Australia by 2020, although regulatory changes <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/australia-facing-urgency-on-5g-spectrum-bands-amta/" target="_blank">are still needed</a>.
<h2>Connections on 5G</h2>
In a mobile network, the user’s device (typically a smart phone) communicates with a nearby wireless base station via a radio link. All users connected to that base station share its available data capacity.
Australia’s mobile network typically provides <a href="https://opensignal.com/reports/2017/02/global-state-of-the-mobile-network" target="_blank">download speeds</a> of around 20 Mb/s. But the actual speed of connection for an individual decreases as the number of users increases. This effect is known as contention.
Anyone who has tried to upload a photo to Facebook from the Melbourne Cricket Ground will have experienced this.
The maximum download speed of 5G networks could be more than 1 Gb/s. But in practice, it will <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-5g-38489" target="_blank">likely provide</a> download speeds around 100 Mb/s or higher.
Because of contention and the high cost of the infrastructure, mobile network operators also impose significant data download limits for 4G. It is not yet clear what level of data caps will apply in 5G networks.
<h2>Connections on the NBN</h2>
In a fixed-line network like the NBN, the user typically connects to the local telephone exchange via optical fibre. Directly, in the case of fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP), or by copper wiring and then fibre, in fibre-to-the-node (FTTN).
An important difference between the NBN and a mobile network is that on the NBN, there is virtually no contention on the data path between the user and the telephone exchange. In other words, the user’s experience is almost independent of how many other users are online.
But, as highlighted in the recent public debate around the NBN, some users <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-it-comes-to-the-nbn-we-keep-having-the-same-conversations-over-and-over-85078" target="_blank">have complained</a> that NBN speeds decrease at peak usage times.
Importantly, this is not a fundamental issue of the NBN technology. Rather, it is caused by artificial throttling thanks to the NBN Co’s Connectivity Virtual Circuit (CVC) charges, and/or by contention in the retail service provider’s network.
Retail service providers like TPG pay CVC charges to NBN Co to gain bandwidth into the NBN. These charges are <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-01/telcos-cry-foul-over-controversial-nbn-charge-for-bandwidth/8762404" target="_blank">currently quite high</a>, and this has allegedly encouraged some service providers to skimp on bandwidth, leading to contention.
A restructuring of the wholesale model as well as providing adequate bandwidth in NBN Co’s transit network <a href="https://www.telecomtimes.com.au/single-post/2017/09/06/How-to-fix-the-NBN-pricing-model-Rod-Tucker-John-de-Ridder" target="_blank">could easily eliminate</a> artificial throttling.
The amount of data allowed by retailers per month is also generally much higher on the NBN than in mobile networks. It is often unlimited.
This will always be a key difference between the NBN and 5G.
<h2>Don’t forget, 5G needs backhaul</h2>
In wireless networks, the connection between the base stations and internet is known as backhaul.
Today’s 4G networks often use microwave links for backhaul, but in 5G networks where the quantity of data to be transferred will be higher, the backhaul will necessarily be optical fibre.
In the US and elsewhere, a number of broadband service providers <a href="https://www.fiercetelecom.com/telecom/report-2b-to-be-spent-5g-backhaul-by-2022-ng-pon2-to-dominate" target="_blank">are planning</a> to build 5G backhaul networks using passive optical network (PON) technology. This is the type used in the NBN’s FTTP sections.
In fact, this could be a new revenue opportunity for NBN Co. It could encourage the company to move back to FTTP in certain high-population density areas where large numbers of small-cell 5G base stations are required.
<h2>So, will 5G Compete with the NBN?</h2>
There is a great deal of excitement about the opportunities 5G will provide. But its full capacity will only be achieved through very large investments in infrastructure.
Like today’s 4G network, large data downloads for video streaming and other bandwidth-hungry applications will likely be more expensive using 5G than using the NBN.
In addition, future upgrades to the FTTP sections of the NBN <a href="https://www.nbnco.com.au/blog/industry/gpon-vs-ng-pon2" target="_blank">will accommodate</a> download speeds as high as 10 Gb/s, which will not be achievable with 5G.
Unfortunately, those customers served by FTTN will not enjoy these higher speeds because of the limitations of the copper connections between the node and the premises.
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86216/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">5G will provide convenient broadband access for some internet users. But as the demand for ultra-high-definition video streaming and new applications such as virtual reality grow, the NBN will remain the network of choice for most customers, especially those with FTTP services.
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/rod-tucker-2000" target="_blank">Rod Tucker</a>, Laureate Emeritus Professor, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-melbourne-722" target="_blank">University of Melbourne</a>
This article was originally published on <a href="https://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/5g-will-be-a-convenient-but-expensive-alternative-to-the-nbn-86216" target="_blank">original article</a>.
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rt-r6zPRp3Aen

5G will be a convenient but expensive alternative to the NBN

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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/77780/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">
GUEST OBSERVER
Eight years into the Australian government’s National Broadband Network (NBN) project, the nation has an average internet speed – 50th in the global rankings – that lags well behind many advanced economy countries. 
Ongoing secrecy around the NBN, a project that’s likely to cost more than A$50 billion, makes it impossible for the public in most cases to know when and what quality service they will receive. Further, new research shows the NBN rollout was politically motivated and socioeconomically biased from the beginning. 
It is perhaps time to remind ourselves of the ups and downs of the project that was once announced as a dream national infrastructure project for the 21st century. This requires a ten-year journey back in time, before we can figure out what needs to be done next.
The ups
In November 2007, after 11 years of Coalition government, Labor was elected on a policy platform that promised a national broadband network. 
The NBN company was announced in April 2009 to provide terrestrial fibre network coverage for 93 percent of Australian premises by the end of 2020. Fixed wireless and satellite coverage would serve the remaining 7 percent. 
Looking back, it’s hard to deny the influence the NBN has had on Australian politics. Perhaps the peak influence was when three independent MPs cited the NBN as one of the key reasons why they supported a Labor government over the Coalition when the 2010 federal election produced a hung parliament. 
The final 60 early NBN rollout locations were then announced. The plan was for the first stage of the large-scale rollout to follow, connecting 3.5 million premises in 1,500 communities by mid-2015.
The downs
The early NBN rollout experienced significant delays. This attracted a great deal of “overwhelmingly negative” media coverage. Public opinion polls reflected growing dissatisfaction with the national project. 
This dissatisfaction and the September 2013 federal election result changed the fate of the NBN. In 2013, the new Coalition government suspended the first stage of the large-scale fibre-to-premises NBN rollout to reassess the scale of the project. 
In 2014, the government announced that the NBN rollout would change from a primarily fibre-to-premises model to a multi-technology-mix model. The technology to be used would be determined on an area-by-area basis.
This change of direction resulted in a prolonged state of uncertainty at the local government level. As it was rolled out, the NBN was widely criticised for being slow, expensive and obsolete.
Current state of play
Delays continue in the construction of the Coalition’s NBN. What can only be described as a downgrade of the original national project is now seriously over budget. 
In September 2016, a joint standing committee of parliament was established to inquire into the NBN rollout. The inquiry is continuing.
The bleak status quo only gets worse when the on-the-ground reality of the NBN rollout is considered. While fibre-to-premises rollout is supposed to be limited in the Coalition’s NBN, disturbing examples of misconduct in the NBN installations are highly concerning. 
The image below shows one example of many in which heritage-listed buildings (in this case also public housing) are disrespected to the point that suggests an absolute lack of communication between NBN contractors, local government, or heritage agencies.
<img src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/files/171251/width754/file-20170529-6367-ez3j2i.JPG" alt="">
<div class="enlarge_hint">
One heritage-listed house with two NBN installations (Judge Street, Woolloomooloo, NSW). Image: Stacey Miers, Author provided
</div>
Who misses out?
In the Coalition’s NBN, the provision of universal high-speed capacity – as envisioned in the original NBN – has been transformed into a patchwork of final speeds and different quality of service. This leads to an important question about equity. It also puts the 60 early rollout locations in the spotlight as these could potentially be the only ones across the nation that enjoy fibre-to-premises NBN.
My new research points to the political motivations in the selection of these lucky 60 sites. Voting patterns in these locations were compared with all electorates in the federal elections from 2007 to 2013. The analysis shows the selections were skewed for potential political gain.
ALP-held seats were the main beneficiaries of the early NBN rollout; safe Coalition-held seats were the least likely to receive the infrastructure. 
Tony Windsor, one of the three influential independent MPs in 2010, famously said of the NBN:
Do it once, do it right, and do it with fibre. 
He secured priority access for his regional electorate to the early NBN. 
However, most regional localities were not that lucky. Indeed, research on the sociospatial distribution of the early NBN rollout shows the limited share of regional Australia.
What to do?
It is convenient to blame one political party for the state of chaos that the NBN is in right now. However, politicisation of the project has been part of the problem since day one. 
Instead, we call for telecommunication infrastructure to be considered for what it really is: the backbone of the fast-growing digital economy; the foundation for innovation in the age of smart cities and big data; and a key pillar of social equity and spatial justice.
In reality, however, in the age of big data and open data, the lack of transparency around the NBN is shocking. In evidence to the parliamentary committee inquiry in March 2017, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission expressed concern about the lack of transparency on NBN performance. 
Policing the leaks of NBN data is not going to clean up the mess. Quite the opposite: the Australian government needs to share the NBN data, so the exact nature and scale of the problems can be determined. Only then can we talk about finding a way forward in this long journey.
Tooran Alizadeh is senior lecturer, Director of Urban Design, University of Sydney and author for The Conversation. She can be contacted <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/tooran-alizadeh-377838" target="_blank">here</a>.
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jchancellor-FAypfDUnLy

The NBN: how a national infrastructure dream fell short

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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/75780/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">
GUEST OBSERVER
ABS figures show that Australia's appetite for faster broadband is growing apace.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ latest figures on internet activity in Australia show a huge jump in the number of people with advertised speeds of greater than 24 Mbps (that’s megabits per second, a measure of data transfer speed).
That trend is significant because it suggests that Australia’s appetite for faster broadband is growing apace, and that the NBN may be helping to drive adoption of higher speed internet.
Starting from Dec 2014, the number of subscribers in Australia with internet advertised as being capable of 24 Mbps or greater rose from 2.3 million to 7.8 million. Or, expressed another way, from 19% of all internet subscribers to 58 eprcent of all subscribers.
(It’s worth noting that the growth is in people who have signed up to packages that advertised internet speeds capable of reaching 24 Mbps. That’s not to say that speed is actually delivered all of the time; there is variation and one doesn’t always get the advertised speeds.)
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2017/04/13/Untitled-1.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2017/04/13/Untitled-1.jpg" width="700" height="471">
<div class="dw-chart-notes">ABS data show that by 2016, about 58% of all internet subscribers in Australia had internet advertised of being capable of 24 Mbps or higher. Dotted lines signify interpolation between values where data is missing.</div>
<div class="dw-chart-notes">Source: ABS Cat 8153.0 Internet Activity and NBN Co Strategic Review Report 2015</div>
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<div class="dw-chart-notes">
This increase is due, in part, to the roll-out of the national broadband network (NBN) and access to broadband at higher speeds – but that’s not the whole story.
True, the number of NBN subscribers over the same period rose rapidly from 322,000 to 1.7 million but that doesn’t explain the other 5.5 million subscribers who moved to faster broadband in that time.
Looking at the types of connection, there was an increase in the number of subscribers using internet delivered by fibre and fixed wireless. This tallies with what NBN data show.
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2017/04/13/Untitled-2.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2017/04/13/Untitled-2.jpg" width="700" height="394">
The number of fibre connections increased to more than 1.4 million connections, which is an increase of 122% in the year between December 2015 and December 2016.
Source: ABS Cat 8153.0, Internet Activity,
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It’s likely that with the advent of the NBN and its standardised speed tiers, internet service providers started offering services that were on a par or better than those being offered on the NBN. Competition may be at work, and the technology itself is improving.
However, data reported by cloud computing services firm Akamai in their State of the Internet reports – frequently cited by the press – showed Australia’s broadband to be woefully behind most other developed countries.
Indeed, in the same time that Australia saw a huge increase in subscribers on internet speeds of 24 Mbps and above, Akamai was reporting that average internet download speeds had increased by a mere 27%, an increase to an underwhelming 10.1 Mbps. That puts Australia down the list in terms of average speeds.
With ABS data showing that 58% of the population is now on plans capable of delivering speeds of 24 Mbps and above, such a paltry rise in the average internet speed is somewhat surprising.
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2017/04/13/Untitled-3.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2017/04/13/Untitled-3.jpg" width="700" height="437">
Dotted lines signify interpolation between values where data is missing.
Source: Akamai State of the Internet Report
It is, of course, possible that the advertised speeds of Australian internet plans are, too often, misrepresenting the true speeds available.
The way that Akamai calculates its figures is not spelled out in its report – it says that it “includes data gathered from across the Akamai Intelligent Platform”. So perhaps it would be wise to take claims about Australia’s rank in the world on internet speeds with a hefty grain of salt. Things may be better than we are being told.
More data is needed to make sense of the impact of the shift of subscribers to higher speed internet. Projects like the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s plan to “test and report on the typical speed and performance of broadband plans provided over the NBN” will help build a more accurate picture.
 
David Glance is the Director of the UWA Centre for Software Practice, a UWA research and development centre and author for The Conversation. He can be contacted <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/david-glance-148" target="_blank">here.</a>
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Three charts on Australia’s growing appetite for fast broadband: David Glance

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Garrett Camp, co-founder of the revolutionary online transportation network, Uber has unveiled a new digital platform that is his foray into residential buying and selling.
The platform is called <a href="https://haus.com/" target="_blank">Haus</a>.
Commentary from the Inman website says it’s not trying to compete with the Zillows and realtor.coms in online home search.
Rather, Haus’s main purpose is to digitize the offer submission and acceptance process.
<a href="https://techcrunch.com/2016/07/28/uber-cofounder-launches-new-real-estate-venture-for-expa-called-haus/" target="_blank">TechCrunch</a> reported the platform lets “sellers put their listing on the platform, where buyers and their agents can both post their offers, amend them, and see an anonymized version of other offers that have been made on the property.”
Haus is only available in California.
With homeowners and buyers able to see the offers, Haus is also touting more transparency in the sales process.
The information available to potential buyers about a listing on Haus includes the terms of the offer in addition to the price.
The Names remain confidential.
“We think the openness will create a more efficient market and that the number of offers and price will ultimately be dependent on demand,” Haus GM Sarah Ham told TechCrunch.
“Bidding wars are a common, almost accepted, part of the real estate process today. But with our approach, buyers know where they stand.
"Buyers will know what they need to offer to make their offer competitive, but they also won’t negotiate against themselves.”
Camp told TechCrunch that “collecting offers and presenting them is a very manual process, the way that town car companies would pick up a phone, write the fare on the board, and send the next available driver to that location.
“It just seems much more efficient for agents to use a platform to coordinate all of this information automatically.”
Currently, Haus is free, but the company may start charging through the broker’s fee once it figures out how to add value to the negotiation process.
The project falls under Expa Studios, of which Camp is CEO.
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Uber enters the real estate world

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ASX-listed Spirit Telecom Limited said it has launched its superfast Internet product Spirit 400 in Melbourne apartment development Freshwater Place, a first in Australia.
With 240 of the 530 apartments already Spirit customers with access to plans of up to 100/100Mbps, the Internet service provider has now upgraded the speed to include both the 200/200Mbps and the superfast 400/400Mbps plans.
Situated on the banks of the Yarra River, opposite the Melbourne CBD, Freshwater Place includes both residential and short-stay accommodation.
Managing director of Spirit Telecom, Geoff Neate, said, “Freshwater Place was one of our first residential buildings to have our Ultra-Fast ‘UFI’ product, back in 2013. They were at the forefront then and they have now been upgraded to enable us to launch a 400/400 product, leapfrogging the market yet again."
Spirit specialises in fibre-based broadband services.
“Since we first enabled Freshwater we have seen the market's appetite for superfast Internet surge, with the growth of phones and tablets streaming music video and catch-up TV to multiple devices at any given time.
“Trends around the world tell us that people want more from their Internet. For example, countries like Japan offer speeds up to 2Gbps," he said.
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